Page:A Chinese Biographical Dictionary.djvu/762

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.
A Chinese Biographical Dictionary
743


Tou Hsien ^ ^ (T. >f|g ^ ). Died A.D. 92. A great grandson 1956 of Tou Jung, and elder brother of the second Empress Tou (see Tou Hou)y through whose influence he received a military command. Upon the death of the Emperor in A.D. 88 he attempted to assassinate a prot^^ of the Empress, of whom he was jealous, and for this he was confined to the palace precincts. Fearing that he would be put to death — his own father had been executed — he volunteered to undertake a campaign against the Turkic tribes to the north of Mongolia who were then giving trouble. In conjunction with J^ ^ E^Dg Ping, he inflicted a severe defeat upon the Turkic Khan at ^ ^ |1| ' Ghi-lo*shan. He pursued the flying enemy for a thousand miles beyond the frontier and set up a trophy at ^ ^ |1| Ten-jan-shan , where the following inscription, written by the famous historian Pan Eu, was carved upon the rock: ^ ^'Our trained soldiery came hither on a campaign against barbarian hordes. We chastised Turkic insolence and restored our supremacy in this distant land. Across these vast plains they went back to their northern home, while our splendid troops set up this trophy that the achievements of our glorious Emperor should be heard of ten thousand generations hence." On returning to China he was loaded with honours and met his nephew, the young Emperor Ho Ti, rather as an equal than as a subject. His ambitious demeanour alarmed the youthful sovereign, a boy of barely fourteen; and he was accordingly deprived of his command and banished with his kinsmen to his feudal possessions, where he was so strictly watched that at length he committed suicide.

Tou I W ^ (T. ^ :b^). Died A.D. 582. A military ^mmander 1957 under the N. Chou dynasty, who in 561 was ennobled as Duke and in 562 became Commander-in-chief. He had a beautiful daughter, who was very fond of reading the Biographies of Famous Women. In 581, when the first Emperor of the Sui dynasty claimed the